Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The European Tour is the second largest tour in the world of golf coming in second only to the PGA Tour. The increase in popularity of the European Tour can be attributed to its broad inclusion in other parts of the world featuring venues held not only in Europe but also in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Smaller tours, such as the Sunshine Tour, are part of a global constinuency which makes up the International Federation of PGA Tours, co-sanctioning four events with the European Tour.

That being said, the most recent event played this past weekend on the Sunshine Tour was the inaugural Nelson Mandela Championship. A possibly more well-known tourney taking place this week on the Sunshine Tour is the Alfred Dunhill Championship. Both events count toward the Race to Dubai, a year-long global affair with a prize in excess of $1 million dollars.

Although few Sunshine Tour events attract top names in golf, this week, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel are both competing: adding the name Mandela to any event also elevates it don't you think? These golf tournaments also give rise to fresh faces who might one day move toward a permanent spot on the Euro Tour.

Since gambling is an inherent part of golf, with these events comes the opportunity for sports betting. As I have come to learn (no, I don't gamble but I read a lot), in the past, these sorts of transactions were done with a bookie, however, with the rise of the internet over the past few years many forms of gambling have taken full advantage of the online culture of this medium. Now bookmakers and casinos can be found online and everything that goes with them. People who fancy a quick go on the slots on their computer, or even their smartphone, can now do this at sites such as LuckyNuggetCasino.com online casino, along with card games such as Poker or Blackjack which are usually found to be more popular among sports fans. Betting on golf can now be done before or even during the game wherever they are; this new face of gambling also has expanded the types of sporting events on which bets can be placed.

The Nelson Mandela Championship, for example, showed me that a bettor would be able to predict finishing positions. This type of sports bet is where you make a prediction on where a golfer will finish at the conclusion of the tournament. This is a bit different than other bets as you can bet high which means you expect your selected golfer to do poorly in the tournament. On the other hand, you can decide to go low which means you expect him to do rather well. To know specifically what this looks like depends on the quote associated with a specific golfer. For instance, he may be quoted to be 5-8. This means that the sportsbooks have him predicted to finish either 6th or 7th. If you want to bet low, meaning he will do well, you would sell the finishing position at 5. If you expect this golfer may not place as well as expected, you would sell the finishing position at 8.

Where I do not condone gambling, I found the process quite interesting and wanted to share it with the audience. There are many people who go in ready to place a bet but not understanding the modus operandi in order to give themselves a chance at success.

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